Pet Names

Naming a pet is tough. I think a pet's name needs to somehow reflect their personality, and if you've named them before you really know exactly what that personality will be, you can end up with a horrible mismatch. I think I've done pretty well with the 4 pets I've had in my adult life, so here they are:

--Chubby Chubs (1990--2007, RIP) This was my first cat, adopted when she was 6 weeks old. Her name was originally Sprocket, so named because the day we brought her home we drove to West Virginia University to see a concert--Toad the Wet Sprocket. 6 months later she was spayed, and quickly grew into the nickname that eventually became her only name, Chubby Chubs. Just Chubs for short. Sometime affectionately referred to as Chubby One.

--LuLu (1992--2002, RIP) My second cat, found as a stray in a parking lot when she was about 8 weeks old. Started out with the name Daisy, which was OK. But somehow that turned into Daisy Lu, and each time you said it to her with Lu attached, she arched her back and cried. So she pretty quickly became known as LuLu. Also known as The Lu and Ragamuffin.

--Gypsy (Born 6/96) Our first dog. Part German Shephard, part Elkhound. We bought her at a kennel of sorts, and named her within a few days of bringing her home. The dog I grew up with, a Collie mix that was born 1 week after I was, was named Gypsy. Best dog ever, so I figured there'd be good karma attached to the name. 11 1/2 years later I'm happy to report that there certainly was. She also responds to Melonhead, Melly, Melon and Miss Melon.

--Luna (Born 2/07) Our newest family member, adopted from a local rescue group that saved her from a shelter in Ohio. Part lab, part beagle, maybe? No idea really. I like to call her a beaglador. She basically looks like a black beagle, large for a beagle but tiny for a lab. Named Luna after weeks of discussion and list making, and then once we had her trying out the name live. Seems to fit her pretty well. So far she also responds to Loonie and Beagle. In her case, though, we are trying to stick with the original name. We'll see how that goes, our track record isn't so good.